{"id":62670,"date":"2025-12-06T15:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62670\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T15:03:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:03:06","slug":"red-sox-trade-for-bronx-kid-on-his-birthday-and-he-has-tony-pena-like-cannon-arm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62670\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox trade for \u2018Bronx kid\u2019 on his birthday \u2014 and he has Tony Pe\u00f1a-like cannon arm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adonys Guzman turned 22 on Thursday and received a big birthday surprise. The Pirates traded him to the Red Sox<\/a> less than five months after they drafted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just hanging out with my friend, playing some MLB: The Show,\u201d Guzman said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he noticed an incoming call from Pirates director of player development Michael Chernow. The Red Sox and Pirates completed a five-player trade<\/a> that sent starting pitcher Johan Oviedo<\/a>, Guzman and 26-year-old left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego to Boston.<\/p>\n

The Sox sent outfield prospect Jhostynxon \u201cThe Password\u201d Garcia<\/a> and 18-year-old right-handed prospect Jesus Travieso to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Guzman initially planned to go out to dinner and hang out with friends for his birthday. He instead stayed home to sort out everything that had just transpired.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty weird last 24 hours in terms of like, why would I get traded and things of that nature that I don\u2019t really understand yet,\u201d Guzman said by phone Friday evening. \u201cBut I guess it\u2019s also a good welcoming to the business to understand that you can get moved at any time to anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman, a Pirates 2025 fifth-round pick out of Arizona, is a Bronx, N.Y. native who played at Boston College as a freshman in 2023 before transferring to Arizona. He is known for his excellent arm and defensive skills.<\/p>\n

Coming out of high school in 2022, Baseball America graded Guzman\u2019s arm an 80 (top of the scale) and his fielding a 70 (plus-plus) on its 20-80 grading scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuzman is somebody we liked as an amateur with a strong defensive profile, good swing decisions and good bat to ball skills,\u201d chief baseball officer Craig Breslow<\/a> said via email. \u201cHe\u2019s somebody we think can thrive in our development system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball America recently wrote<\/a>, \u201cHis arm remains one of the best in class three years later with excellent carry on his throws that should help control the running game. He threw out 31% of basestealers in 2025.\u201d”<\/p>\n

His arm strength especially began to stand out among his peers when he made the transition from the Little League field to the big diamond at 13 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would get it to second base pretty well, throw out a lot of people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I would say probably at that age, I was like, \u2018I have a pretty good arm. It\u2019s probably one of my better tools.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman also pitched growing up but he turned his attention primarily to catching at around 14 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I do a pretty good job behind the plate of receiving, blocking, all the fundamental skills,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cI also think I have good knowledge of the game and understanding of the game. … I think I provide pitchers comfortability behind the plate. I feel like I\u2019m a very social guy and keep things light, so I think that that helps them as well on the mound when I\u2019m behind the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a kid, Guzman watched the Red Sox a lot \u2014 cheering for the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the Yankees growing up for sure being a Bronx kid,\u201d he said. \u201cJorge Posada was one of my big guys. I used to love Jason Varitek as well from the Red Sox. Watching those games and the competitiveness that took place in those games. The Yankees\u2019 \u2018Core Four\u2019 and the Red Sox guys at the time, from (Dustin) Pedroia, (David) Ortiz, all those big names. But I was a big Yankees guy growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also would watch videos of Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez and four-time Gold Glove catcher Tony Pe\u00f1a, who retired about six years before Guzman was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony Pe\u00f1a was a big one for me growing up,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was a bench coach for the Yankees for a while and that\u2019s where I learned to do like the kickstand thing where the catcher puts his leg all the way on the (ground) and they do like a mini split.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pe\u00f1a, who played for Boston from 1990-93, was known for his unorthodox stance behind the plate and his cannon arm. He threw out 70 attempted base stealers in 1986. He led the league in caught stealing in 1984 (63), 1985 (62) and 1991 (40).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family is Dominican, and he was obviously a big Dominican catcher, a big influence in Dominican culture,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cSo my father introduced me to him at a young age and told me about the catching stance. And I\u2019d be 8, 9 years old in my Little League in the Bronx doing that stance. Everybody\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my God, what are you doing?\u2019’<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghTony Pena catching for the Pirates in 1985. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios\/Getty Images)Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty <\/p>\n

Guzman uses a one-knee down stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s as exaggerated as like Tony Pe\u00f1a used to,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to feel my heel being able to push off a little bit just in case I have to throw with a delayed steal or things of that nature. But it\u2019s still part of my receiving stance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman spent 2023 at Boston College, then transferred to Arizona in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great year my freshman year, and then the coaches ended up getting jobs elsewhere, which is what led to my transfer to Arizona, where I followed our pitching coach at Boston College that year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After that season, head coach Mike Gambino left BC to take the head coaching job at Penn State. Guzman followed coach Kevin Vance to Arizona. <\/p>\n

\u201cArizona was lacking a little bit of catching depth, and he thought I\u2019d be a great fit, somebody who could come in and have results and help improve our pitching staff who had struggled the year before Vance got there,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cSo I think that\u2019s why he offered me and invited me to come out to Arizona with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman said he played with several seniors and fifth-year student-athletes at BC and they helped him to understand scouting reports. He used that to help him become a better hitter in the coming years at Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of my best attributes is that I do put the ball in play a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to have that as one of my main attributes as a hitter \u2014 the fact that I don\u2019t strike out and put the ball in play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right-handed hitter batted .328 with a .411 on-base percentage, .496 slugging percentage, .907 OPS, nine homers and 12 doubles in 62 games (271 plate appearances) for Arizona as a junior in 2025. He added 44 RBIs, 43 runs and 27 walks compared to 32 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

He had more walks (26) than strikeouts (19) his sophomore year at Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to consider myself a gap-to-gap hitter,\u201d he said. \u201cI think like most hitters do, I have a little bit more power to my pull side. But I think I do drive the ball well to the opposite-field gap and drive the ball well the other way. I like to stick gap to gap. I don\u2019t like to think pull happy because of shifts nowadays and things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Baseball America grading his arm an 80 coming out of high school, he went undrafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I was surprised I didn\u2019t get drafted,\u201d he said. \u201cGoing into it, I kind of had the understanding that high school catching is a difficult market and a difficult thing to assess, especially for scouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman spent most of his time at the Pirates\u2019 spring training and player development complex after getting drafted last July. But Pittsburgh assigned him to Low-A Bradenton during the final series of the year.<\/p>\n

He played in one game, going 2-for-5. His first professional hit was a home run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream come true, honestly,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously I\u2019ve always dreamed of playing professional baseball and to go out there and perform. And the one game I did have was a major confidence boost more than anything. Just understanding that I can play at this level, and I am good enough and skillful enough to play at the level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guzman said he\u2019s excited and grateful for his new opportunity with the Red Sox.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in the Bronx, I always watched the Red Sox. They were one of the teams that I always had my eye on,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir competitiveness, the rich history they have, the great players they\u2019ve had in the past and present. I\u2019m extremely excited to get out there and learn from them, what they have to offer, how they can develop me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adonys Guzman turned 22 on Thursday and received a big birthday surprise. The Pirates traded him to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[33212,33213,128,33214,33215,15673,33216,20,9,24,63,33217,33218,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-62670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bat","9":"tag-bats","10":"tag-bronx","11":"tag-brucebennett_archives","12":"tag-catches","13":"tag-hit","14":"tag-hits","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-sit","20":"tag-sits","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","23":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}